11 réponses à ce sujet

[Huktonfonix]

I want to say right off the bat that I'm fully aware my video card is below the minimum specs for this game.  I haven't played a PC game in years, and I bought the game with the full knowledge that it probably wouldn't work (only a $10 gamble).  I think I've probably maxed out the vid card my mobo will support (no PCI express slot), and that I'm probably SOL, but I thought I'd take a shot here before giving up.

Specs (from configuration utility):

1. What version of the game are you playing: digital download (steam)
      Configuration Utility | Game Tab
           * Version Information: MassEffect2.EXE v1.02
2. System Details
      Configuration Utility | Summary Tab
           * Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 Processor 3200+/Clock Speed:2002 MHz / RAM: 1 GB
           * Display Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 (I know, I know) / VRAM: 256 MB / Driver Version: 175.19
           * Sound Adapter: Realtek AC97 Audio / Driver Version: 5.10.0.5830
      Configuration Utility | Platform Tab
           * Operating System: XP Pro SP3
           * DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (Aug2008)

I've used the steam utility to verify my download.  I'm able to access the "launcher" menu, and the ambient music plays correctly.  I've tried the default video settings, and also adjusting the resolution to 800 x 600 and turning off every visual effect in the configuration utility.  In all cases, the game crashes immediately when I try to play it.  I get a black screen for a moment, with an hourglass cursor, and then the "Mass Effect 2 has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." message.  Updating to the most recent nvidia drivers had no effect.

I expected to have some problems, since I barely meet most of the minimum specs and am below spec on the vid card, but I was expecting something more along the lines of stuttering, freezing, etc, and not an instant crash.  The FX 5500 is not all that different from the 6800 that is supported, is it?

So, am I completely off on this?  Is it just a matter of my vid card being ancient?  Or might there be a way for me to play the game, albeit with poor performance?

[Gorath Alpha]

All of the FXes were really awful, from the day they came out as new.  They couldn't run the older Dx8 shader code as well as the prior year's GF4 Titanium cards had done, and they were literally miles behind the worst of the Radeon Dx9 cards, the 9600, with even the best that they could come up with. 

Instead of having a NATIVE  Dx9 function included, nVIDIA tried to skip ahead to a 128 bit shader system of their own design that they thought might derail Microsoft's SM-3 shaders before they ever arrived, but instead, caused their FX buyers to suffer with terribly slowed processing when there was much in the way of pixel shaders.  

The Geforce 6n00 generation did have Dx9 as a Native Function built in, although they had far fewer shader processing units than the Radeon 9n00s and Xn00s did.  Without appropriate shader functionality, the FXes are merely a nasty bump in the nVIDIA story. 

Incidentally, the 6800 was the high end card from its generation, while your card is the low end of the FXes. 

Here's a middle of the pack Radeon from year before last, when Sapphire was still producung AGP cards (nVIDIA stopped doing so five years ago):

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

That's an HD 4670 for $75.  Any computer with such a trashy graphics component is really hardly worth trying to sell.  Far better Thrift Shop offerings are going these days in the $75 - $150 range, stateside, although yours does have a better CPU than the usual Pentium P4 that was common with your machine was still new, about six or seven years ago. 

Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 02 janvier 2011 - 06:20 .

[Huktonfonix]

Thanks Gorath. I was unaware that anyone was still making AGP video cards. Mine was one of the last nvidia AGP cards and I assumed that ATI discontinued them at the same time.



Do you think that upgrading the video card will solve the problem? I worry that the symptoms I'm experiencing might indicate more of an issue than just the video card.

[Moondoggie]

You have a very old PC that probably is well past it's warrenty, Uses DDR Ram and won't be able to manage the modern world of gaming. You likely won't be able to find a workable card for your Motherboard and you are better off buying a new PC. Look at Goraths Card comparison thread for the kind of cards you are looking for to get a good performence from the game.

[Huktonfonix]

Trust me, I'm aware of how woefully out of date this machine is. I built it more than 10 years ago, and have been keeping it on life support with scavenged parts for years. The last major upgrade was more than 5 years ago, when I put in the current CPU. I haven't played a PC game in about that long, and I don't see myself wanting to play anything besides the Mass Effect series, so there's a pretty low threshhold for how much I'm willing to invest in upgrading or replacing a machine that's really just used for web browsing and housing my music collection.



If I can make the game playable for a few bucks worth of parts on ebay or craigslist I might do it, but anything more than that and I'll probably just buy an xbox or go without playing it.

[Moondoggie]

To play the Mass Effect series you'll really need a new rig. You can build one that will work just fine for a couple hundred bucks and it'll last you a while.



You are probably better off buying an X Box since you have no desire to game on a PC.

[Gorath Alpha]

Huktonfonix wrote...

Thanks Gorath. I was unaware that anyone was still making AGP video cards. Mine was one of the last nvidia AGP cards and I assumed that ATI discontinued them at the same time.

Do you think that upgrading the video card will solve the problem? I worry that the symptoms I'm experiencing might indicate more of an issue than just the video card.

That's really hard to bd sure of.  AMD was still making and selling that CPU right up to about three years ago, and I cannot imagine any 2000-dated MB being able to handle that much of a CPU (as a matter of fact, I believe that both s754 and s939 date to abpout 2003 / 2004, not 2000)  What MB are you using in it, with what Chipset?  (I sorta hope it's not VIA.)

P. S.  nVIDIA last made new GPUs for AGP five years ago, with their 7n00 generation, but they had been unable to sell 75 to 80% of the FX chips (those were just so bad, they lost many millions from that miscalculation), so they still have warehouses full of FXes they haven't thrown out, and you can buy those for AGP right now, although not any 6n00s or 7n00s for either AGP or PCIe, new.

Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 02 janvier 2011 - 07:32 .

[Huktonfonix]

Alas, it is VIA, the K8T800Pro chipset. The board is an ASUS A8V. It is a socket 939 board, and 2004 sounds about right.

[Gorath Alpha]

Actually, I'm pretty sure the KT800 Chipset dates to a much more recent (and better) late 2005, early 2006, so it would probably be able to step into X2 territory (I was afraid it was going to be s754). I'm answering your message using an s939 with an NF4 Chipset on a DFI LanParty MB, but I have an X2 4600 in it.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

That's an AGP version of an HD 4650 for $80, with free shipping. 

Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 03 janvier 2011 - 01:37 .

[Gorath Alpha]

Gorath Alpha wrote...

  ... I'm answering your message using an s939 with an NF4 Chipset on a DFI LanParty MB, but I have an X2 4600, and a Radeon HD 3870 (PCIe) in it.

www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx

That's an AGP version of an HD 4650 for $80, with free shipping. 

I thought we might hear back regarding your decision.

G

[Huktonfonix]

I haven't made one yet. I do appreciate all the help. I'm just not sure yet whether I want to put money into this machine. As you said, I could probably buy a better one for 100 bucks.

[Huktonfonix]

Gorath, if I could trouble you for one more bit of advice, how much of a mistake do you think it would be to buy this card instead?
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102851

I know I'd take a performance hit on the DDR2 memory, but I need a card with s-video out.